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Mission
EBI is the leading research institution in generating critical knowledge and understanding in the fields of Information Systems and Management, Electronic Commerce and the Digital Economy. The Center's current research activities actively seek to provide an efficient and effective framework for global electronic commerce and the digital economy through an integrated research agenda that focuses on correlative effects among network infrastructure, products, processes, payment systems and policies, using markets and economic analysis as the central unifying theme. The Center's vision is to assure that electronic commerce processes and applications achieve their efficient outcomes promised for the digital age. That vision is implemented in an interdisciplinary research focusing on developing technologies and applications that increase business productivity, consumer satisfaction, market efficiency, society's welfare and the effectiveness of government policies.

Scope
The scope of the Center's research covers a broad range of activities which are characterized by the use of enabling digital technologies in networks, computers and software. Communications infrastructure, computer and other enabling technologies lay the foundation of the market. This foundation allows innovative digital processes (e.g. intranets, extranets, virtual firms, online search and marketing, online auctions and market-making mechanisms, logistics-based distribution and real time consumption) and products (e.g. digital currency, smart products and remote/real-time services) to enhance and replace physical processes and products. Government agencies and policies also play a critical role in determining the outcome of this new market economy. The Center's major research areas cover these broad issues that range from market infrastructure to policies on the strength of its multidisciplinary body of researchers.